Ruby factorial function
RubyMathFactorialRuby Problem Overview
I'm going crazy: Where is the Ruby function for factorial? No, I don't need tutorial implementations, I just want the function from the library. It's not in Math!
I'm starting to doubt, is it a standard library function?
Ruby Solutions
Solution 1 - Ruby
There is no factorial function in the standard library.
Solution 2 - Ruby
Like this is better
(1..n).inject(:*) || 1
Solution 3 - Ruby
It's not in the standard library but you can extend the Integer class.
class Integer
def factorial_recursive
self <= 1 ? 1 : self * (self - 1).factorial
end
def factorial_iterative
f = 1; for i in 1..self; f *= i; end; f
end
alias :factorial :factorial_iterative
end
N.B. Iterative factorial is a better choice for obvious performance reasons.
Solution 4 - Ruby
Shamelessly cribbed from http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Factorial#Ruby, my personal favorite is
class Integer
def fact
(1..self).reduce(:*) || 1
end
end
>> 400.fact
=> 64034522846623895262347970319503005850702583026002959458684445942802397169186831436278478647463264676294350575035856810848298162883517435228961988646802997937341654150838162426461942352307046244325015114448670890662773914918117331955996440709549671345290477020322434911210797593280795101545372667251627877890009349763765710326350331533965349868386831339352024373788157786791506311858702618270169819740062983025308591298346162272304558339520759611505302236086810433297255194852674432232438669948422404232599805551610635942376961399231917134063858996537970147827206606320217379472010321356624613809077942304597360699567595836096158715129913822286578579549361617654480453222007825818400848436415591229454275384803558374518022675900061399560145595206127211192918105032491008000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This implementation also happens to be the fastest among the variants listed in Rosetta Code.
update #1
Added || 1 to handle the zero case.
update #2
With thanks and appreciation to Mark Thomas, here's a version that is a bit more efficient, elegant and obscure:
class Integer
def fact
(2..self).reduce(1,:*)
end
end
Solution 5 - Ruby
In math, factorial of n is just the gamma function of n+1
(see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_function)
Ruby has Math.gamma() so just use Math.gamma(n+1) and cast it back to an integer if desired.
Solution 6 - Ruby
You could also use Math.gamma function which boils down to factorial for integer parameters.
Solution 7 - Ruby
class Integer
def !
(1..self).inject(:*)
end
end
examples
!3 # => 6
!4 # => 24
Solution 8 - Ruby
I would do
(1..n).inject(1, :*)
Solution 9 - Ruby
I just wrote my own:
def fact(n)
if n<= 1
1
else
n * fact( n - 1 )
end
end
Also, you can define a falling factorial:
def fall_fact(n,k)
if k <= 0
1
else
n*fall_fact(n - 1, k - 1)
end
end
Solution 10 - Ruby
Just call this function
def factorial(n=0)
(1..n).inject(:*)
end
examples
factorial(3)
factorial(11)
Solution 11 - Ruby
With high respect to all who participated and spent their time to help us, I would like to share my benchmarks of the solutions listed here. Params:
iterations = 1000
n = 6
user system total real
Math.gamma(n+1) 0.000383 0.000106 0.000489 ( 0.000487)
(1..n).inject(:*) || 1 0.003986 0.000000 0.003986 ( 0.003987)
(1..n).reduce(1, :*) 0.003926 0.000000 0.003926 ( 0.004023)
1.upto(n) {|x| factorial *= x } 0.003748 0.011734 0.015482 ( 0.022795)
For n = 10
user system total real
0.000378 0.000102 0.000480 ( 0.000477)
0.004469 0.000007 0.004476 ( 0.004491)
0.004532 0.000024 0.004556 ( 0.005119)
0.027720 0.011211 0.038931 ( 0.058309)
Solution 12 - Ruby
Using Math.gamma.floor is an easy way to produce an approximation and then round it back down to the correct integer result. Should work for all Integers, include an input check if necessary.
Solution 13 - Ruby
Just another way to do it, although it really isn't necessary.
class Factorial
attr_reader :num
def initialize(num)
@num = num
end
def find_factorial
(1..num).inject(:*) || 1
end
end
number = Factorial.new(8).find_factorial
puts number
Solution 14 - Ruby
You will probably find a Ruby feature request useful. It contains a nontrivial patch that includes a demo Bash script. The speed difference between a naive loop and the solution presented in the batch can be literally 100x (hundred fold). Written all in pure Ruby.
Solution 15 - Ruby
Here is my version seems to be clear to me even though it's not as clean.
def factorial(num)
step = 0
(num - 1).times do (step += 1 ;num *= step) end
return num
end
This was my irb testing line that showed each step.
num = 8;step = 0;(num - 1).times do (step += 1 ;num *= step; puts num) end;num
Solution 16 - Ruby
Why would the standard library require a factorial method, when there is a built-in iterator for this exact purpose? It is called upto.
No you do not need to use recursion, like all these other answers show.
def fact(n)
n == 0 ? 1 : n * fact(n - 1)
end
Rather, the built-in iterator upto can be used to calculate factorials:
factorial = 1
1.upto(10) {|x| factorial *= x }
factorial
=> 3628800
Solution 17 - Ruby
class Integer
def factorial
return self < 0 ? false : self==0 ? 1 : self.downto(1).inject(:*)
#Not sure what other libraries say, but my understanding is that factorial of
#anything less than 0 does not exist.
end
end
Solution 18 - Ruby
And yet another way (=
def factorial(number)
number = number.to_i
number_range = (number).downto(1).to_a
factorial = number_range.inject(:*)
puts "The factorial of #{number} is #{factorial}"
end
factorial(#number)
Solution 19 - Ruby
Just one more way to do it:
# fact(n) => Computes the Factorial of "n" = n!
def fact(n) (1..n).inject(1) {|r,i| r*i }end
fact(6) => 720
Solution 20 - Ruby
In Ruby standard library function for factorial is not available. We can make a simple function of factorial in ruby in this way.
def factorial_number(n)
if n <= 1
1
else
n * factorial_number(n-1)
end
end
puts factorial_number(6) #Output is 720 => (6*5*4*3*2*1)
puts factorial_number(8) #Output is 40320 => (8*7*6*5*4*3*2*1)